1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shredder. More specifically, the present invention discloses a shredder capable of shredding a little medium.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Please refer to FIG. 1a and FIG. 1b. FIG. 1a is a diagram of a prior art shredder 10. FIG. 1b is a diagram of a shredding device 18 of the prior art shredder 10. The shredder 10 comprises a housing 12, an entry slot 14 formed on the housing 12 for inserting a shredding paper 16, a shredding device 18 installed inside the housing for shredding the paper 16, and a trigger 20 installed on a central portion of the entry slot 14 for sensing the paper 16 and therefore starting the shredding device 18. As shown in FIG. 1b, the shredding device 18 comprises two shredding knives 22, 24, and a shredding gap 26 formed between the two shredding knives. When the paper 16 is inserted into the entry slot 14, the paper 16 will push the trigger 20 so as to start the shredding device 18. Then, the paper 16 will be pushed into the shredding gap 26 and therefore be shredded.
Please refer to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a diagram when the shredder 10 of FIG. 1a is shredding a little medium. In general, if the shredding medium is a paper as shown in FIG. 1a, the shredder 10 is always able to process it appropriately. However, if the shredding medium is a little object such as a credit card or compact disc, problems will arise. As shown in FIG. 2, a credit card 28 is inserted into the shredding gap 26. Because the credit card 28 is thicker and harder than the paper 16, the shredding knives 22, 24 are easily deformed and become curved as shown in FIG. 2. Therefore, after using several times, the shredding knives 22, 24 will be elastically fatigued and be unable to provide enough force to shred items smoothly. When this happens, the shredding device 18 must be changed, which is not convenient.
Because of the problems mentioned above, the traditional shredder is seldom used to shred the little media. There are currently no shredders able to shred little media on the market. However, because of safety and secrecy, a shredder with the function of shredding little media such as credit cards and compact discs has significant value.
It is therefore a primary objective of the claimed invention to provide a shredder that is capable of shredding a little medium. The shredder has a side trigger installed in addition to the original trigger, which is installed on the central portion of the shredding gap. The little medium can be inserted into the portion of the shredding gap that is near an end of the shredding gap. Therefore, the shredding device is able to use the portion of the shredder having stronger mechanical strength to shred the little medium, overcoming the limitations of the prior art.
The claimed invention, briefly summarized, discloses a shredder, which comprises a housing, an entry slot on the housing for inserting a desired medium, a shredding device installed inside the housing for shredding the medium, and a central trigger for sensing the medium and therefore triggering the shredding device. The shredding device comprises two shredding knives, and a shredding gap between the two shredding knives. The central trigger is installed above the central portion of the shredding gap. The shredder further comprises a side trigger installed between the central portion and an end of the shredding gap. When a medium with its size longer than half a length of the shredding gap is inserted into the entry slot, the medium will trigger the central trigger device and therefore trigger the shredding device. However, when a medium with its size shorter than half the length of the shredding gap is inserted into the entry slot, the medium is capable of triggering only the side trigger and not the central trigger and therefore triggers the shredding device.
It is an advantage of the claimed invention that the claimed invention comprises a side trigger so that the shredder is able to use the two end portions of the shredding gap to shred the little medium. The mechanical structure of the two end portions of the shredding gap is stronger than the central portion, so that the shredding knives will not be easily deformed and become curvy and will not be elastically fatigued. Therefore, the life of the shredder will be lengthened.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.